This Secret Toyota Museum Has Pristine Examples Of Unique Cars

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The collection houses over $12 million worth of cars.

You may not know it, but Toyota has its own museum hidden in its US headquarters in Torrance, California. The building itself has no distinct signage, but has been open to the public since 2000. The car collection tells the story of Toyota's history in the US and houses over 100 road and race cars valued at over $12 million. These cars appear to be in pristine condition, as if they had just rolled of the production line. Thanks to Toyota Blog, we can see some of the amazing cars that the company has stashed away for preservation.

The collection packs a few early Celica models, which was a massive success for Toyota. The Celica showed Americans that an efficient compact car could be reliable and fun to drive. Toyota also saved the first Corolla and Camry to ever rolls of the line in its US plants in 1987 and 1989 respectively. There are also plenty of classic models. One of our favorites is a black, 1971 Toyota Crown which represents the last year that it was available in the US. The Crown was Toyota's largest model and never attracted US consumers like the smaller Corolla did. Only 3,934 were sold in its last year of production, and none looked as good as this one.

The collection also houses some important cars from Toyota's motorsport heritage. There is a Prius that hit 130.74 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2004 and an MR2 that clocked an insane 238 mph. Of course, no Toyota museum could be complete without a 2000GT, and Toyota has three of them here. Of the three, the Golden car is easily the most special. Only two were ever made in that color, and the one at the museum was on display at the 14th Tokyo Motor Show in October 1967. Toyota hired British model Twiggy to stand next to the car, and apparently she loved it so much that she bought one.